Suspicious break-in at Zimbabwe newspaper

New
York, April 29, 2011--The Zimbabwe Republic Police should
consider all possible leads, including a political motive, in investigating a break-in at
the offices of leading independent daily NewsDay on
Monday in which computer hard drives of senior editorial staff were stolen, the
Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Intruders took NewsDay Editor Brian Mangwende's laptop
and stole the hard drives of the computers belonging to 11 senior editorial
staffers in the paper's newsroom in Harare, Mangwende, told CPJ. Mangwende, who
writes a critical column on
current affairs, said the computers contained sensitive information on stories
journalists were working on. Two of the journalists whose computers were
targeted were Assistant Editor Wisdom Mdzungairi and Senior Parliamentary
Reporter Veneranda Langa. Both were summoned for
interrogation by the military on April 19. They were questioned about their
sources for a story on the health of
Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander Gen. Constantine Chiwenga, according to news
reports.

Zimbabwean Information
and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu condemned the Easter Monday evening attack
on the newsroom. "Such behavior is diabolic, but it is also a warning to all
media houses to step up their security so that such people don't have access to
important information," NewsDayquoted him
as saying. "The one who did this is against freedom of speech and expression
(and) against dispensation to have many voices and is against democracy," he
added.

"We are
heartened that Zimbabwean Information Minister Webster Shamu has publicly
condemned this attack targeting the computers in the newsroom of NewsDay," said CPJ Africa Advocacy
Coordinator Mohamed Keita. "Zimbabwean authorities must ensure that investigations
into this incident are thorough and credible and address reasonable suspicions of
a politically motivated attack."

Mangwende told
CPJ that he believes the aim of the break-in was to paralyze the production of
the paper. "We will not be deterred by these criminals who are not merely
targeting the property of NewsDay, but freedom of the media," he said.